Foundation season 2's launch date is fast approaching – and we couldn't be more excited. The hit Apple TV Plus sci-fi series is set to return in the summer (that's winter for Southern Hemisphere dwellers) and, based on its first trailer and what we know from a plot perspective, it's set to be even better than its predecessor.

As Foundation's second season gears up to land on Apple TV Plus, what do we know about the next entry in one of the best Apple TV Plus shows? Below, we've compiled everything worth knowing about its second installment. That includes it possible launch date, cast members, story beats, trailers, and more.

Major spoilers follow for Foundation's first season. Potential spoilers for Isaac Asmiov's novels, which the show is based on, and Foundation season 2 are also discussed.

Foundation season 2 release date: what we know

Foundation season 2 doesn't have an official release date. However, it'll debut in mid-2023 – Apple confirming as much in the first trailer for Foundation season 2.

Before that announcement was made, the last big update we received came in February 2022. Back then, Apple unveiled a first-look image of Lee Pace's Brother Day verbally clashing with Jared Harris' Hari Seldon. Well, the AI construct of Seldon's consciousness, anyway, what with Seldon dying in the show's second episode.

Foundation season 2 trailer

Foundation season 2's first teaser dropped on January 4. The two-minute long trailer doesn't give much away from a story standpoint, but there's enough footage for us to get a sense of what it'll be about.

Firstly, it'll be set against the backdrop of the second Seldon Crisis. Viewers will remember that the first of these played out in the second half of Foundation season 1, so we can expect more high stakes, sci-fi action to play out in season 2.

Additionally, Gaal and Salvor – who met for the first time in the Foundation episode 10 – don't seem like they'll stay together, with the duo becoming involved in different storylines. That said, the teaser only contains a minute's worth of season 2 footage, which isn't enough to confirm whether Gaal and Salvor will team up or if their chance reunion will be a brief one.

Foundation season 2 plot

Full spoilers follow for Foundation season 1.

Fans of Isaac Asimov’s book series may think they know where Foundation season 2’s story will go, but the source material can’t be relied upon anymore. The show's creators used the books as a basis for the TV adaptation but, by the end of last season, the show had diverged from the story in the novels.

Still, there are plenty of unresolved plot threads and new material to explore. Based on comments made by the cast and crew, we have a few pointers about how they might be concluded and/or examined in greater detail.

Showrunner David S Goyer told Collider that answers to some of season 1’s open-ended questions will be resolved in future seasons, saying: “If there's a question that we haven't answered, there's a reason why we haven't answered it. It's not because we forgot about it. It's 'watch this space.'”

Goyer has been open about how certain season 1 events may impact its successor, too.

One of the biggest moments was the revelation that Brothers Dawn, Day, and Dusk are not identical clones of Cleon I. After Eto Demerzel (Laura Birn) killed Dawn’s current (or, rather, previous) incarnation due to the genetic differences that made him an impure clone, it’s revealed all of Cleon’s clones are genetically unique. An anti-Empire resistance group, which included Dawn’s ex-lover Azura, had tampered with the DNA of Cleon I’s host body decades earlier, meaning none of the Empire’s current rulers are identical clones of Cleon I.

Speaking to Newsweek, Goyer teased what this shock reveal may mean for this triumvirate in Foundation season 2.

“Part of the fun of the show moving forward [is] we'll be seeing how different the various Cleons are,” Goyer said. “It's part of the jazz that we're playing with Terrence [Mann], Cassian [Bilton], and Lee [Pace] because, even though they're the same actors, some of the characters are going to be very different. One of the things that's exciting about this monkey wrench, that's thrown into the Genetic Empire, is what does that do when you introduce chaos into that system?”

For Pace, the Great Spiral pilgrimage Day undertook in episode 8 foreshadowed the season 1 finale’s big reveal. Speaking to The Wrap, Pace said: “He [Day] looks at his brothers and especially his younger brother [Dawn], who is now shown to be different in all of these ways, and is basically screaming ‘Me too'. I feel the same way you feel. I know we are living under this fantasy that we are all the same man, and I know better now. I can’t un-see what I’ve seen. I can’t forget. I can’t believe that I am Cleon. I have to now believe that I am this person after what I’ve experienced. I think it forever changes the culture inside the dynasty.”

The other major plot point from the season 1 finale confirmed a series-long fan theory: Salvor Hardin (Leah Harvey) is the daughter of Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell). Its final scene is reserved for their overdue meeting – albeit 138 years into the future. Gaal froze her embryo in episode 2 and that fertilized egg went on to become Salvor, who lives on Terminus over a century later. The only reason Gaal and Salvor eventually meet is because of the show’s time travel elements, as well as Gaal occasionally entering cryostasis for decades at a time.

While Goyer was coy about whether the duo’s relationship will potentially grow – the season 2 teaser suggests their reunion with be a fleeting one – he provided some context about how Gaal may react to Salvor’s declaration. And, given their respective time travel adventures, how Gaal is strangely younger than her daughter when they’re reunited.

“The story of Gaal and Salvor… I would say the closest analogy would be if someone gave up a child at birth and didn't even know what happened to them,” Goyer told Newsweek. “And then one day that adult child knocks on their door and says, 'Hey, mom'. What's a little different is that, at least biologically, Salvor's a few years older than Gaal, which is one of the fun things that you can only do in science fiction. I think Salvor's about 26 or 27 years old, and Gaal is only about 23 years old, 22 years old.”

Hardin additionally told TVLine: “These two characters are complete strangers and we'll get to dive into how they navigate this new relationship, as well as the world around them bringing new challenges [in season 2]. They both have traveled years into the future, and for all they know, everything they knew has been left behind. They, potentially, only have each other left. It’s a profound emotion to contemplate, but it is something that requires time to process. Whether or not they have the luxury of time is another question entirely.”

What about the Second Foundation, which fans of Asimov’s book series already know about? As Hari Seldon teased in season 1's final episode, he set up two Foundations at opposite ends of the galaxy – one which the Empire knows about and one it doesn’t. Foundation season 2, then, should take us to this Second Foundation, which is teased in the first trailer.

“It's definitely something we're going to explore,” Goyer told Newsweek. “I didn't bring it up just to not mention it again. One of the other things about the Second Foundation in the books is that the Second Foundation also largely develops off-screen, at least in the original trilogy. It appears almost as a deus ex machina. And I thought, for viewers of the show, that wouldn't be playing fair, that we had to see the Second Foundation develop.”

As the trailer reveals, the second Seldon Crisis will form a large part of the second season. The alliance that eventually formed between Terminus, Thespis, and Anacreon in season 1 allowed the trio of outer-rim planets to navigate the First Crisis. But, as Hari’s AI construct told their populations in episode 10, more challenges will be on the way. The books give some indication about what the second crisis is, but it's unclear if Goyer and company will use it ad verbatim or make some creative alterations.

Foundation season 2 cast

Here's who's returning for Foundation season 2:

• Jared Harris as Hari Seldon
• Lee Pace as Brother Day
• Lou Llobell as Gaal Dornick
• Leah Harvey as Salvor Hardin
• Laura Birn as Eto Demerzel
• Terrence Mann as Brother Dusk
• Cassian Bilton as Brother Dawn

The second season will introduce new characters, too. In October 2021, Goyer confirmed more live-action incarnations of characters from Asimov’s novels will show up.

“With season two, our audience will get to visit more of Asimov’s indelible characters and worlds, including Hober Mallow, General Bel Riose, and all the Outer Suns,” Goyer explained. “We’re playing the long game with Foundation and I’m grateful to my partners at Apple and Skydance for entrusting me with this epic. Buckle up. We’re about to fold some serious space.”

In a separate announcement, Apple confirmed the identities of 10 new individuals, including those mentioned by Goyer, and actors who will portray them:

• Isabella Laughland (Harry Potter) as Brother Constant, a cheerfully confident claric whose job is to evangelize the Church of the Galactic Spirit across the Outer Reach
• Kulvinder Ghir (Goodness Gracious Me) as Poly Verisof, High Claric of the Church of the Galactic Spirit. Whip-smart and sardonic, he’s also a terrible drunk – intelligent enough to see the path he’s on, but too cynical to change
• Sandra Yi Sencindiver (The Wheel of Time) as Enjoiner Rue, the beautiful, politically savvy consigliere to Queen Sareth. A former courtesan to Cleon the 16th, Rue parlayed her status to become a royal counsellor
• Ella-Rae Smith (Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw) as Queen Sareth of Cloud Dominion. Used to being underestimated, Sareth employs it to her advantage, charming her way into the Imperial Palace with biting wit, all while on a secret quest for revenge
• Dimitri Leonidas (Centurion) as Hober Mallow, a master trader with a sarcastic personality and questionable morals, who is summoned against his will to serve a higher, selfless cause
• Ben Daniels (Jupiter’s Legacy) as Bel Riose, the last great general of the Superliminal Fleet and would-be conqueror of the Foundation. Bel is noble to a fault, but his fealty to the Galactic Empire is waning
• Holt McCallany (Mindhunter) as Warden Jaegger Fount, the current Warden of Terminus and guardian of its citizens against external threats
• Mikael Persbrandt (Sex Education) as The Warlord of Kalgan, a monster of a man, coiled with muscle and possessing powerful psychic abilities, and fueled by hate in his quest to take over the galaxy
• Rachel House (Cowboy Bebop) as Tellem Bond, mysterious leader of the Mentallics
• Nimrat Kaur (Homeland) as Yanna Seldon

Interestingly, Poly Verisof, The Warlord of Kalgan, Bel Riose, and Hober Mallow are the only four characters who appear in the books. The other six, Yanna Seldon included, are entirely new creations for Foundation season 2.

Will Foundation return after its second season?

Apple has only renewed Foundation for another season, but we’d be shocked if more aren’t forthcoming. Speaking to Lovin Malta in January 2021, Goyer revealed his ambitions to tell Foundation’s vast and epic tale – which spans one thousand years of fictional human history – across 80 episodes.

Goyer also confirmed (via Collider) that he initially pitched an 80-episode story before Apple greenlit the show’s first season. And, curiously, Goyer already has the its ending in mind.

If each season comprises 10 episodes, Foundation might run for eight seasons. However, its continual renewal will depend on whether audiences continue to tune in. Apple is notoriously guarded about releasing viewing figures for its in-house movies and TV shows – so much so that no data for Foundation season 1’s episodes, or any of its movies and TV shows, is publicly available.

So Foundation season 2 is coming, but its future is unknown past that point. Its first season found its feet with each episode and, providing its successor can improve on the series’ first outing, it should be renewed by Apple during (or after) Foundation season 2’s release. If it fails to attract viewers, though, Foundation may not survive past its second season.

For more Apple TV Plus content, check out our Apple TV Plus review, everything we know about Severance season 2, or get the lowdown on the best Apple TV Plus movies.